Penélope Cruz Cast as Donatella Versace In Versace: American Crime Story

Academy Award(R) Winner To Play Gianni Versace's Sister in Third Installment of American Crime Story Franchise

LOS ANGELES, March 20, 2017 - Academy Award(R) winning actress Penélope Cruz has been cast to play Donatella Versace, the sister of murdered fashion designer Gianni Versace, in Versace: American Crime Story. Versace: American Crime Story is the third installment of the universally acclaimed, award-winning limited series from Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson.

Production of Versace: American Crime Story is scheduled to begin in April and air in 2018.

Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson serve as Executive Producers on Versace: American Crime Story, which is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and FX Productions.

Academy Award(R) winner Penélope Cruz has proven herself to be one of the most versatile actresses by playing a variety of compelling characters, and becoming the first actress from Spain to be nominated for and win for an Academy Award. First introduced to American audiences in the Spanish films Jamon, Jamon and Belle Epoque, she starred in her first English language film Hi-Lo Country in 1998, followed the next year by The Girl of Your Dreams. She followed that with appearances in All the Pretty Horses, Woman on Top, Open Your Eyes, Twice Upon a Yesterday, Talk of Angels, Live Flesh and All About My Mother, which was awarded the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Foreign Film.

Next up for Penélope was Blow, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Vanilla Sky, Masked & Anonymous, Fan Fan la Tulipe" Don't Tempt Me and Don't Move, for which she won a David Di Donatello Award (Italian Oscar) and European Film Award for Best Actress. She then starred in Gothika, Head in the Clouds, Noel, Chromophobia and Sahara. In 2006, Penélope starred in Volver, for which she won the "Best Actress" awards at the European Film Awards, the Spanish Goya Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, and received both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, and Elegy.

In 2009, she won the Academy Award(R) for Best Supporting Actress in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, along with a BAFTA, an NYFCC and an NBR Award. That year she also starred in Broken Embraces and Nine, for which she garnered SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. In 2011, Penélope starred in the international blockbuster hit Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, followed by To Rome with Love, The Counselor and Twice Born. In 2016 Penélope starred in Zoolander 2, The Brothers Grimsby and went on to produce and star in Ma Ma and appear in The Queen of Spain. In 2016, she finished production on Escobar and Murder on the Orient Express.

Cruz is represented by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Katrina Bayonas (management in Spain).

ABOUT FX

FX is the flagship general entertainment basic cable channel of FX Networks, a business unit of 21ST Century Fox. FX Networks is comprised of FX, FXM and FXX. Launched in June of 1994, FX is carried in 90 million homes. The diverse schedule features a growing roster of critically-acclaimed and award-winning hit dramas series, including The Americans, The Strain, Taboo, Legion and the upcoming Snowfall; the critically-acclaimed limited series American Horror Story, Fargo, American Crime Story, FEUD: Bette and Joan and the upcoming Trust; and acclaimed hit comedy series including the award-winning Louie, Baskets, Better Things and Atlanta. In 2016, FX received a basic cable record 56 Emmy(R) Award nominations and a basic cable record 18 wins, including 9 for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. FX is the former home of the critically-acclaimed and award-winning hit drama series The Shield, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, Damages, Sons of Anarchy and Justified. The network's library of acquired box-office hit movies is unmatched by any ad-supported television network.

ABOUT FOX 21 TELEVISION STUDIOS

Fox 21 Television Studios is a production unit housed within Fox Television Group devoted to making creatively ambitious scripted and unscripted series for all distribution platforms. Fox 21 Television Studios is responsible for the for the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning sensation from Ryan Murphy, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson "The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" (with FX Productions), the Emmy and Golden Globe winning "Homeland," starring Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin, the critically acclaimed "The Americans" (with FX Productions) starring Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, and Ryan Murphy's latest anthology, "FEUD: Bette and Joan," starring Oscar winners Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon. Additional series include "Dice," from Scot Armstrong, Sean Furst, Bryan Furst, Richard Shepard, Bruce Rubenstein and Andrew Dice Clay, "Queen of the South," executive produced by David T. Friendly and Natalie Chaidez, and "Chance" from Kem Nunn, Alexandra Cunningham, Lenny Abrahamson, Michael London, and Brian Grazer. Upcoming projects include "Genius" (with Imagine, OddLot Entertainment and EUE/Sokolow) from Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Francie Calfo, Gigi Prtizker, Rachel Shane, Sam Sokolow, Jeff Cooney, Ken Biller and Noah Pink, "Seven Seconds" from Veena Sud, and the next two installments in the "American Crime Story" anthology entitled "Katrina" and "Versace."